Beauty in Japanese
"beauty" in Japanese, with the kanji that carry the meaning.
美
bi
3 Japanese kanji carry the meaning "beauty". The most common choice is shown first.
Which one to use
美 is beauty plainly, and the character in 美しい (beautiful). 秀 is excellence that stands out from its surroundings — the beauty of being better, not of being lovely. 侘 is the opposite movement: beauty found in what is plain, worn and incomplete, the wabi of wabi-sabi.
Top pick
beauty, beautiful
Reading: bi
9 strokes · beautiful
Where it comes from
Composed of sheep and big. Big sheep is beautiful.
What it carries
Beautiful, beauty, art. Represents beauty.
Related kanji for "beauty"
beauty
shuu · beautiful
Composed of grain and phonetic. Grain excelling.
beauty
ta · peaceful, wisdom
The person radical with a phonetic element. In Chinese it carried the sense of boasting; Japan gave it the reading wabi and turned it into a word for finding beauty in what is lacking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Japanese kanji for beauty?
The most common kanji for "beauty" is 美, read as bi. It means beauty, beautiful. Related kanji: 秀 (beauty), 侘 (beauty).
How many strokes does 美 have?
美 has 9 strokes.